


No Offense

by I_Larb_You_3000



Series: Avengers One shots [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Not Wanda Friendly, Tony Stark-centric, Trans Tony Stark, no beta we die like men, transgender character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22503037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Larb_You_3000/pseuds/I_Larb_You_3000
Summary: Tony thought that with going to this new school he wouldn't have to be worried about being deadnamed, boy, was he wrong. He does find some fantastic new friends though.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, if you squint
Series: Avengers One shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1500524
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	No Offense

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know anything about being transgender, so tell me if I got anything wrong. Also I can't tell if this even makes any sense, okay thanks.

“Evely! Get down here!” Tony hears Howard scream, the pretentious bastard. 

“That’s not my name!” shouts Tony, angrily running down the stairs. Jarvis stands next to a red-faced Howard, “That is the name I gave you.”

“Well, I didn’t like it, decided to get a new one,” he snarks, glaring. 

“You’re being sent to Ian Roger’s boarding school because I’m sick and tired of your attitude.”

Tony snorts and folds his arms, “Really shows your parenting skills, doesn’t it,” he says before heading back up to his room to pack. 

He’s actually pretty happy with this new arrangement, finally away from his father and his incompetent tutors. He plans on sneaking Jared, his pop-can sized robot, to the school with him, mostly with the intent of pranking whoever the worst teacher is. 

He’s fantasizing and plotting when Jarvis walks in. 

“Young sir, I’ve contacted the principal of the school, it is co-ed so we’ve made arrangements to make sure you are placed in the male dorms.”

“Wow, thank you, Jarvis!” He grins. 

~No Offense~

Predictably, Jarvis was the one to drive him. Tony was actually really excited, not that he would admit it. He was very much ready to limit his contact with Howard as much as he possibly could. He’d met the principal, and let’s say he was a bit surprised. After his talk with Jarvis, he imagined the principal as a gentle and understanding fellow. To his surprise, the principal was actually very cold, dismissive, threatening. Tony imagine he was one of those ‘fluffy on the inside’ sort of people, though, looking at him it was hard to imagine. 

Some lucky souls got to skip out on class while they showed him around. 

“Hi, I’m Steve and this is Natasha, what’s your name?” Tony regarded the buff blond skeptically. 

After Tony had gotten the news about the boarding school he began to do some research. Apparently, most students at this school got in with scholarships, but in his typical fashion, Howard had decided to just pay the overly expensive entrance fee. 

At first glance, he looked like he got in with an athletic scholarship, but Tony observed some things that suggested otherwise, a callus on his right hand and a green stain on his jeans tell he may have gotten in as an artist instead.

“I’m Tony,” he answers after a second of silence. He glances at the girl, listening absentmindedly as the blond says something about his grandfather. Based on the girl’s posture alone he suspects she may be a dancer, but isn’t quite sure. 

“And we have lots of different events in this auditorium, band concerts, dance recitals, stuff like that,” Steve says.

“Cool,” Tony says, bored. 

“Okay, the bell should ring for lunch soon, so we can check out the cafeteria or your dorm.”

“My dorm, please,” Tony says, picking at his hoodie. 

~

“Okay, this is Pietro,” Steve gestured to the lean boy sitting on the top bunk, it looked like he was just gluing pieces of paper to each other, but Tony doesn’t dwell. 

“Yo, who is this?” He waves casually, glue flinging from his fingers. 

“This is Tony, Tony, that’s Fitz,” Fitz was in his own bed across from the bunk bed. He looked like he was fiddling with a drone or something. Tony tried to subtly peek at it but was distracted when Steve started babbling again, stepping in front of him.

“So, Tony, do you want to hang out with us at lunch today? Pietro usually does, so you’ll have a familiar face there for you. Plus me, obviously.” 

Tony weighs his options, he knows it’s good to get to know people, to have friends in a new school, but he also knows this could be some sort of hazing or prank. Looking up at the blond he was reminded more of a teddy bear than a school bully, though he knows by now that looks can be deceiving. After careful consideration, he answers. 

“Uh, sure,” he says warily. Not his smartest response, but Steve seems happy with it. 

~

Tony had expected that they would be in the cafeteria, or someone’s dorm, or somewhere normal like that, but instead, he found himself sitting on the floor of a family restroom. He’s honestly surprised at how many people fit into it comfortably, but even more surprised at how nice it smells. Looking around at how undisturbed they are he can tell they’ve been doing this for a while. 

Two girls are sitting in the sink, a strawberry blonde and the Natasha girl that had been walking with them earlier. He’s sitting next to Steve on the floor and he can’t tell if the guys across from them are in love or if they hate each other. Another blond guy is sitting on the lid of the toilet tank, sulkily eating a taco. There are two other boys plus Pietro and a girl who is apparently Pietro’s twin sister. Absently he wonders why the name ‘Maximoff’ is so familiar but pushes it away and instead takes a bite of his Frito Burrito. Apparently, it was Steve’s turn to get lunch so he was able to get his order in. 

Finally, someone acknowledged him, “So, Stevie,” says one of the boys across from them, “Who’s this stray?” 

“I’m hardly a stray, my name is Tony Stark, nice to meet you.” 

“I’m Bucky Barnes, and I hate to break it to ya but if Stevie invites you to lunch you’re officially a stray.”

Tony just laughs, taking a big bite of his food. He’s approached once again, this time by the Maximoff twins. They’re both looking at him weird like he’s an alien.

“Are you related to Evely Stark?” Pietro asks, and Tony short circuits. 

“Whuh?” he says, before he realizes that’s not a word. Steve is instantly concerned, the marshmallow.

“Tony?” Steve moves so that he is in front of him. 

He doesn’t know how to answer that. If anything this new school gave him a chance to meet new people, to say, ‘Hello, my name is Tony Stark’ and not have his deadname weighing down on him. He wants to lie, or at least divert, but he knows it’ll weight down on him just as much. They sit there in silence for a moment, but it feels more like afterschool detention than a twenty-second pause. 

“Well, um, technically no.” He struggles with this, he doesn’t want to talk about this, can he say that? 

Both of the Maximoffs are giving him suspicious glares, while Steve is giving him a worried, reassuring look. Everyone’s looking at him now, most of them intrigued, some confused. He just wants the attention off of him. 

“So pretty much- uh, basically, well, I was um, well when I was born my father um… well, I was named Evely Gracelynn Stark,” His voice turns quiet, privately terrified.   
“But I- well you can- I’m trans I guess is what I’m trying to say.” 

There’s a stunned silence and Tony sits tense, trying to gauge the reactions of the group. The Maximoffs are discreetly glaring at him, whispering to one another near-silently. Finally, Steve speaks up. 

“Wow, Tony, it’s very brave of you the tell us this, especially since we hardly know each other.”  
“Yeah!” Bucky laughs brashly, “You’re stuck with us now, you can’t go back!” 

With that, the harsh silence is completely broken. The majority of the group laughs lightheartedly, and the cheerful chatter is back, except this time everyone is focused on him. As he laughs along to one of Natasha’s jokes, he can’t help but notice the Maximoffs sneaking away. He makes eye-contact with Pietro and is fixed with an impressive malicious glare. 

~No Offense~  
Tony is surprisingly happy with the boarding school. He’s become a part of Steve’s close-knit group, hanging out in the strange meeting place that is their abandoned family restroom. 

He’s also become close friends with Fitz, who also sometimes joins their lunches, and when he does they talk science with Bruce while he sits in his boyfriend, Thor’s lap. He loves almost all his classes. 

He knows he should be grateful, he’s finally found real friends. Still, he can’t help but be a little disturbed. The Maximoffs have some sort of grudge against him, dropping passive-aggressive comments, cutting him off when he talks, glaring at him constantly. They’ve started to be more and more rude, especially when out of the presence of any of their other friends. 

Lately, they’ve been starting to get physical, small things, shoving by him in the hallway, Pietro, in particular, has taken to punching him in the shoulder and passing it off as, ‘brotherly.’ 

Currently, he’s in Mr. Strucker’s ninth period history class, wishing, for the thousandth time, that he’d gotten Mr. Coulson instead. He would probably think this class was boring at worst if it weren’t for the fact the teacher hated him. Plus, he was sandwiched between the Maximoffs, front and center. 

“Hey, Stark!” Mr. Strucker yells, and Pietro wacks him with his history book. Tony yelps and sits ramrod straight in his seat. 

“Yes, sir?”  
“See me after class, I don’t appreciate being ignored,” he says, though Tony’s positive Pietro’s slept through 80% of all Strucker’s lessons. 

“Yes, sir,” he says, rubbing his head where he felt an imminent bump already forming. He’s heard a rumor that people have started petitioning for Mr. Strucker’s release, and even that people are trying to sue him for whatever reason. He wouldn’t be opposed to that if it meant a teacher that didn’t scream in his ear when he started to look tired. 

The bell trilled and while everyone else rushed out of the class he leaned back in his chair, rubbing his head. 

“Stark, I have had it up to here with your disrespect, alright?” Strucker advanced threateningly towards him. 

“I know you’re just a spoilt little rich princess, but when you’re in my classroom you will respect your classmates and your teacher.” 

Tony flinches and nods, eager to get out. Strucker slaps him straight across the face, and Tony pulls back, blinking in shock. 

“If you disrespect me again, there will be consequences. Dismissed.”

Tony nods vigorously and quickly, rushing out of the room before Strucker can change his mind. He sneaks onto his lower bunk, curling up with a new quantum physics textbook. Tony ends up falling asleep with the book still in his hands.

When Tony wakes up, however, the book is in pieces on their floor, obscenities written on the few pages not in shreds. As if it couldn’t get any worse, he was already ten minutes late to his first-period economics with Mr. Stane. He doesn’t have any time to process the torn pages sprawled across the floor. Instead, he rushes to grab his bag and throw on the first outfit he sees, wiping away the tears as he rushes out the door. 

Tony runs into class, now fifteen minutes late. He stands submissively as Stane screams his ridicules at him and rushes to his seat next to Pepper. She looks at him with concern, sneaking her phone and typing out, ‘You ok?’ 

He just nods at her giving a ‘talk about it later’ look and tuning in to the lesson. 

~No Offense~

Tony’d gotten in trouble with Strucker once again, and this time he was just slightly scared. He hadn’t forgotten the threat he’d been left with the last time, so he’d worked very hard to be as respectful and attentive as possible, but, just like Howard, Strucker still found the flaw. 

Still, Tony hadn’t been expecting anything like this. He was curled up in the corner, they had left a while ago, but still, Tony shook like a leaf, and as he picked himself up he felt the groan of his ribs. He needed to tell someone about this.

~No Offense~ 

“I can’t believe he would do that!” Steve gasps, affronted. Pietro nods solemnly.

“She just told me yesterday, we were waiting until we could find you without him. He got detention in Strucker’s again, so we thought it was the best time.” 

Wanda curled into her brother, playing into the shaken damsel as much as she could, “He’s been harassing me for the past month, and then last week he threatened me…”

Steve can’t believe it, the shy, sheltered new kid ending up a creep monopolizing on their kindness, it made him sick. 

“We’ll eat somewhere else from now on. I’ll confront him about this tomorrow, I promise we won’t let him get anywhere near you again,” Steve says, determination and disgust seeming into his voice. 

Wanda nodded into her brother’s chest, smirking to herself. She’s more than glad the bitch is finally getting what she deserves. 

~No Offense~ 

Steve is walking angrily down the hallway when he runs straight into the source of his anger. He glares down at Tony.

“Steve?” he asks, his voice painful small. Steve’s eyes soften and then harden again, and he grabs him by the arm, ignoring the pained yelp and dragging him over into a janitor’s closet. 

“Wanda told me everything!” Steve bites out in a bitter whisper. Tony’s eyes flash back and forth between relief and confusion. 

“Then… why do you look like you’re angry with me?” Steve is affronted, is he so twisted that he can’t see what he did was wrong? 

“You threatened her!” is all he can say, bewildered beyond belief. Tony takes on a look of resignation, “Right.” he walks away. Steve is disgusted, even more so by the fact that he obviously doesn’t think he did anything wrong. 

~No Offense~ 

Tony walks away, angry and in pain, the Maximoffs had gotten to them first. He knew that if he told anyone now he would just be trying to get off the hook or turn the story, or something. He thinks of the disgust Steve had regarded him with and withers. 

He didn’t even know where he was going, but he knew he couldn’t go back to his dorm. He knocks on Natasha’s door, well aware she could be in the exact same boat as the others.

She opens the door with a cold look but lets him in any way. 

“You better start talking,” she says. 

“Where do you want me to start?” He asks, still hugging his midsection in pain. Natasha sighs, regarding him, “Just tell me if anything Wanda said is true.” 

“I don’t know, Steve said I threatened her, that’s not true, at least.” 

“Why should I believe you?” Natasha says, all business. 

“I don’t know,” Tony says helplessly, “because they’ve been tormenting me since I got here? Because I was just about to tell you guys… everything when apparently they got to you first?” 

He can tell Natasha is impacted by this. 

“What do you mean? What did they do?” Tony is shocked she even considered believing him, after all, the Maximoffs had known everybody twice as long as he had. 

“Well, sometimes Pietro gets a little aggressive I guess, or before it was just a little. Um, so pretty much they’re really awful in ninth period and sometimes Pietro hits me with textbooks, but Mr. Strucker hates me and today he he had me stay back in class, and well…” 

Tony trailed off, of course, he did, what is he supposed to say? ‘Oh, yeah, some of your best friends and their favorite teacher beat me to a pulp a couple of hours ago and I don’t know why.’ 

“Um, actually, I think I should be reporting them to Principal Fury, they have security cameras in the classrooms, right?”   
Natasha is looking at him with heaps of concern, now, as he gets up and staggers to her door. She quickly rushes to stabilize him, “Let me come with you.” He’s stunned and all he can do is nod and limp along with her to the principal’s office.

“Mr. Fury?” She calls when they get there, “We really need to see you and also probably a nurse.” Tony scowls at the last part but stays silent. 

Fury trudges out of his office, annoyed at the fact he still has to deal with students hours after the last bell has rung. He stops when he sees the pair, Natasha, one of his best students, and Stark, the new kid who he was hoping would stay out of trouble, but instead looks like he just came out of a fight. 

“Principal Fury we need the Maximoffs, Rogers, Bucky,” she continues to list names as Tony begins to drift off. 

“Stark!” snaps Fury, far too much like Strucker as Tony flinches full-body. 

“Yes, sir?” he says, his voice wavering. 

“Do you need a nurse?” Fury levels him with a disapproving glare. 

“Probably, but it can wait.” he can tell Fury doesn’t like that answer, but the man just nods. He’s pulled into the office, and he sits numb as the rest of the group filters in, sitting as far away from him as possible. It stings, but he doesn’t register it much. 

“Tony, what do you need us to pull up?” Natasha whispers to him, concern filling her voice. 

“Um,” his voice cracks, “around three o’clock, Mr. Strucker’s room?” he says, uncertain. 

Both of the Maximoffs jerk, sudden panic hid just beneath their calm, prepared expressions. 

The feed starts, and he is surprised to find it has audio. 

Strucker begins to ridicule him once again for his ‘disrespect.’ There’s a knock on his door, and he opens it to reveal Pietro and Wanda, both with particularly murderous expressions. Some members of the group gasp while others just glance toward the twins. 

The two seem to exchange words before grinning at each other and approaching Strucker. He says something about teaching a lesson and other equally concerning things. Then they approach Tony, who still hasn’t moved from his seat. When Tony catches sight of them he immediately stiffens.   
“Get up,” Pietro growls, grabbing his arm, yanking him over the desks and dropping him on the floor. 

The scene continues, Pietro and Strucker beating down on Tony while Wanda commented on how no one would care if they knew and how he was worthless. 

The group in the office is stunned, and then there is a flurry of action, Pietro is lunging towards Tony and Steve is moving to push the twins as far away as possible. Fury calls for Phil Coulson and Melinda May, their two resident secret government agents to report to the office as soon as possible, and the whole school hears Wanda Maximoffs scream, “You killed them!” and the sound of a crisp slap to the face. She and Pietro are both back on top of Tony, and reinforcements arrive just in time to see Pietro pull out a pocket knife and plunge it into Tony’s side. 

Melinda rushes to pull Pietro off of Tony while Phil apprehends Wanda, moving to help cuff Pietro as well. Bruce rushes to the nurse’s office, returning with a first aid kit and does his best to stop the bleeding. 

~No Offense~ 

After the Maximoffs are arrested and taken to a correctional center it is revealed that Tony was in an accident with the Maximoffs’ parents, though both parents were reportedly very drunk at the time and Tony was driving accordingly with all traffic laws. 

Steve has also apologized to Tony forty-five times and counting, and now Tony just laughs in his face whenever he brings it up. 

Natasha and Tony have grown to be best friends and that asshole Strucker was fired and arrested.


End file.
